Sojourns with my dog and others that matter.

Tag Archives: hiking in maryland

Don’t get me the wrong way, I love being a volunteer organizer and a hike leader for the Maryland Trail Dames. As part of that commitment, I spend hours scouring maps, reading about trails, researching everything from water sources to nearest hospitals. In addition, I recruit and train new hike leaders for our group. I throw myself into it and occasionally forget that I also need to hike for me!

Today was my day. I had a few hours so I headed to Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont, Maryland. This being an impromptu sojourn, I threw a box of saltines, tub of hummus, and a bag of skittles in my bag and called it lunch. I also doused myself with bug spray. Ticks, bugs, just steer clear, okay?

Due to limited time, I decided to start at the visitor center, then hike to the falls and back, about 3.2 rolling miles. The woods welcomed me with shady coolness, spongy moist trail, and a lively bubbling brook. Ahhh yeah, this was gonna be awesome!

Deep breath, yes, that mulchy goodness smell! This is where it’s at. I love all you Dames, but this is the bomb! No prepping, no checking, no being a leader. Just me and the trail…and JEEEEEEEEZUSSSS, WTF IS THAT?

This is NOT what you want to see when you are alone in the forest…ha…haha…*gulp*

*furtive look around to make sure the guilty party is not lurking around*

I continued on, trying to un-see what I saw, just as you are trying to do right now. But you keep looking back at it don’t you?…DON’T YOU??? I mean, you just don’t see that everyday. Thankfully.

The rest of the hike was beautiful. Birdsong filled the air… possibly extra happy to be alive today. 😀 Oh, and I got to the falls before anyone else was there! I had them to myself for a whole 10 minutes before the throng of dogs, kids, moms, dads, young loves, and tourists got there.

I sat down and broke open my crackers and hummus, by myself, in the woods. So good. Hike on!

I took the Dames hiking on Friday at Greenbrier State Park here in Maryland. A day that was misty, damp, mulchy-smelling, and mild. I could almost hear things growing underneath the surface of the earth.

Towards the end of our hike, the sky darkened and let loose a short torrent of rain upon us. It was glorious and reminded me of “There Will Come Soft Rains” , a poem by Sara Teasdale published in 1918. While I wait in anticipation for another lovely spring day in February, enjoy! Hike on!

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fireWhistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not oneWill care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor treeIf mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Last weekend’s adventure was another in the category “I’m trying to love winter”. I led a backpacking overnight for Trail Dames of Maryland from Crampton Gap to the Ed Garvey Shelter, then out the next day ending at Weverton. A very short, doable winter backpack, 4 miles in and about 3 miles out!

Four other crazy ladies joined me on this shiverfest. We met at Weverton on Saturday afternoon, shuttled down to Crampton Gap, snapped a shot at the AT sign and off we went!

Off on our Shiverfest!

While it had been slightly chilly when we stepped off, as usual, we were ready to shed a layer within about 25 minutes. At just after an hour of hiking one dame asked THE QUESTION”, you know the one…Are we almost there?” Hahaaaa! Yes, we were almost there, I assured her…maybe 15 – 20 more minutes…I think all the ladies were pleased with that answer. 😀

It was only 3:00 pm, but the sun had started to sink taking with it the warmth of the light.

True to my word, we stumbled upon the shelter soon after. Three big guys greeted us. I had been hoping for the second floor of the shelter as it is more protected from the wind. No such luck, two of the big guys had already moved in. Bummer! Oh well, they were building a fire, so I quickly forgave them!

Vicky & Kathryn putting up their tents. This was Kathryn’s first backpacking trip and Vicky’s second! Great job, Ladies!

Two of our group tented, I stayed in the shelter with two others. I have had to put up my tent with freezing fingers before and didn’t need that delightful experience in the morning.

Big guy #1, Bob, and his buddy, Big guy #2, Aaron, were trying to think of a trail name for their friend, Big guy #3. They asked what we thought. I looked over at them sitting around the fire. Big guy #3 was sitting with his back to me, feet comfortably snuggled in bright orange down booties… “yeah, all I am I thinking right now is ‘BootyMan’!” BootyMan it was! Bwahahahaa!! He took it well telling all of us we were going to be wanting his booties at about two in the morning!

Laughing, we spread out our stuff, made dinner, then joined the big guys at the fire. The comradery of the trail is one of my favorite things about backpacking. You meet up with other backpackers and it’s like you’ve been friends forever. These guys were a lot of fun and they definitely made our shiverfest great. 🙂 🙂

The weather cooperated as well. Cold, yes, but not dreary. We huddled about the roaring fire watching daylight fade and the lights of houses in the valley twinkle up at us. The sky sparkled with a million stars and we sat back, heads tilted to the heavens, taking in Orion and other lesser known constellations. Good food, great conversation, we stayed up until about 8:30 pm before crawling into our bags.

Fast forward several hours…now huddled in my bag (rated 20 degrees + liner that advertised +20 more). I slept off and on, not totally uncomfortable, but every once and awhile a shiver would start at the back of my neck and run down to my toes. I had on all my layers…so even fitting into my bag was hilariously snug (but I did it…champ that I am). My feet were cold all night even with my big puffy socks…and all I thought about were those damn bright orange down booties!!!

Checking my Fitbit later that day showed that while I slept for 7 hours and 15 minutes…I was 51 minutes awake or restless!!! Maybe next time I will go ahead and take my partner’s bag that is rated negative 15 degrees even though it is heavier! It took all my will to get up and go to the privy! Brrrr!

Finally up, I decided I would sit in my bag to stay warm while writing in my journal. It was still dark, but I could see dawn trying to make its move on night. The dark blue sky was now streaked with a sliver of light blue and I wondered whether we would get the reds and pinks with sunrise.

Several paragraphs later I glanced back up, ahh, light pink was seeping in at the lower edges of the light blue and I heard a flock of geese honking in the valley. It was still too cold to go get my bag of food though. No matter, I was warming up my hiking pants and insoles within my bag…my hiking socks were somewhere down in there too. “Get warm little sockies, I need you!” I thought as I watched the sky dissolve into more of a peachy color.

As I enjoyed the warmth of my bag, a few coyotes started yipping and singing, a beautiful moment. I could now see the blue blaze on the trail to the spring. Light had again conquered the Dark. Time for hot chocolate – Hike on!

Can Mother Nature cool her jets? Everyday brings a new level of heat disgust! My last hike was two weeks ago and we were chased back to our cars by a thunderstorm. Since then it has just been oppressive. I know it’s summer, yada, yada, yada…keep your logic to yourself!

I needed to get out, but also needed motivation. This is where being a hike leader with Trail Dames is so, so, personally satisfying. I scheduled an early morning hike at Little Bennett Regional Park in Maryland. And six other crazy women signed up…so at 6:20 AM I pulled into the Hyattstown Mill trail head parking lot in Hyattstown just across the street from the fire department. It was already a steamy 80 degrees, but otherwise a gorgeous morning that had surprised me with an amazing sunrise on the way down from Frederick.

As soon as everyone arrived, some still trying to wake up, we started down the road to pick up the trail. The trail used to be the old Hyattstown Road that went from Hyattstown to Clarksburg and it still resembles a road. Wide and paved with gravel it was an easy walk to the cut off for the Bennett Ridge trail.

There was a 10k going on in the park this morning. As such we navigated past water stations, yellow tape marking off trails, and eventually the runners. They had their work cut out for them on this muggy morning!

Along the old Hyattstown Road

We followed the Bennett Ridge trail to the campground (pitstop), then backtracked to Beaver Valley. We headed downhill and encountered a bubble of runners from the 10k coming up. Oh! They looked a little whipped, but were in good spirits as they scuttled up the hill.

A 10k runner in beautiful Little Bennett

Another runner in the 10k. How can I not love this park? So lovely!

Beaver Valley winds around to the Western Piedmont trail, which we took back in the direction of Hyattstown. This is also part of the old road, so we were on flat, wide terrain again for a while. As we approached the section of trail where Pine Grove trail comes in, runners were exclaiming that they were getting stung. We slowly walked forward. I watched the next runner carefully, trying to spot the bees. Runner yelled, another win for the bees. I saw the bees and following their track I spotted the hive.

Look closely above runner’s head…the HIVE! Yep, this guy also got stung. It was just easy pickins for the bees.

Holy moly! A huge hornet operation just above the heads of the poor defenseless runners! I looked around and decided this was a time when it was perfectly okay to go off trail. I led the women who chose to follow off, up, and around the nest…no stings. Hooray!

A few women had decided to take their chances and stay on trail…sucked for them, stung!

The final piece of adventure for this trail was wading across Little Bennett. I chose the deepest part, because, well, it was hot, and I mean seriously, if I’m taking the time to put on water shoes, then dang it, it better be worth it!! And it was! The water came up to the bottom of my shorts and felt so cold and ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

A good cool off!

Long before the daily heat advisory went into effect, we were back at the cars and ready to head home for showers.

Even though February is the shortest month, it certainly seems to last forever. As I wait for the daffodils to arrive, however, a gift arrived! A gift only Mother Nature could give to us winter weary Marylanders. (seriously, our winter has been incredibly mild except for that outburst of sheer crazy a few weeks ago, so I don’t really know why it feels like we need to rush on to Spring …but it does!!) Anyway, a gift! A weekend that tempted us with delightfully spring like weather. The birds were singing, the ice was melting, rivers flooding, and I ran for the hills.

I jumped the gun a bit and headed out on Friday when the weather only hinted at warmth that would not come until Saturday. The smell of fresh mud permeated my nostrils as soon as Sidekick Pauli and I exited the car at Worthington Farm, part of Monocacy National Battlefield. However, heading up Brooks Hill we found snow and ice. Not enough for traction devices on my boots, but enough to require picking our way along at a snail’s pace until we got about half way up the hill. Then the trail was dry!

View of Baker Valley from Brooks Hill

Bottom of the Hill…Again with the snow!

Of course, we again encountered the tricky stuff on the way down, but the day was just gorgeous. You know when the breezes are not quite as chilling and almost feel warm? That is how it was! We would be chilly, then rounding a bend in the trail meet with a warmish puff of air. Very exciting! After coming down Brooks Hill, we rounded Ford’s Loop by the Monocacy river. Super gooey, suck your boots off muddy! The river had just recently receded into its proper banks and left debris and mud on the trail. A sure sign of Spring!!!

Sidekick Pauli surveying the flood plain

Still high water! Sidekick Pauli was not pleased…this is where her beach usually is!

So that was fun. Saturday came the real delight though! 65 degrees!!!!!! Wazooo! Oh my gawd, let’s all go hiking!!! I had errands in the morning, so I set off for Cunningham Falls State Park at about 2:30 pm. Parking my car at the Catoctin Furnace on the east side of route 15, Sidekick Pauli and I followed the Catoctin Furnace Trail through the woods and over the pedestrian bridge to pick up the Catoctin Trail up to Bob’s Hill overlook.

Glad I didn’t have to cross Little Hunting Creek today!

This is not a long hike, but a steep one! After crossing the pedestrian bridge follow the creek to the Catoctin Trail. It is a right turn up the hill and steep right from the get go! The trail was slushy, but not terribly difficult to maneuver. The trail gives hikers nice breaks between the steep sections, leveling out for awhile where one can meander along as if no effort was needed at all to climb to such a height. Then, of course, just as you get comfortable, the trail heads back up again!

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This was the perfect place to hike on this Spring preview day! I only saw a handful of other hikers (and I bet Shenandoah NP was packed!)

But was I done with this weekend???? NOOOOOOOO! Even though it rained off and on come Sunday, I was not going to stay inside. Okay, well, I was…but then as I came out of Joanne’s Fabrics down on 40, I glanced at the mountains. Their summits were so beautifully draped in fog that I could not resist! I turned down 40 headed for Gambrill State Park hoping to walk through the woods with the mist swirling about me.

CCC Memorial in Gambrill State Park

I was ecstatic, just magical.

What an absolute wonderful gift this weekend has been. Almost March! Hike on!

Blockhouse Point is a great little park in Montgomery County, Maryland. Sidekick Pauli helped me scout this hike so I could lead a group here. By the way, those of you who read the last post of mine know that Sidekick Pauli went in for surgery for a lump that grew rather quickly on her neck. Her surgery went great and they were able to get all cancerous tissue out!! So it was cancerous, but prognosis is fantastic! She will probably be scouting hikes with me for a long time to come! 🙂 🙂

I visited Blockhouse Point on three different occasions to get the feel of the place since it was brand new to me. The first time my son and niece tagged along. Of course, we were caught up in conversation and got off on the wrong trail. We had wanted to loop, but this trail did not do that. Turns out we had gotten on the last leg of the Muddy Branch Trail! Made a note to look this trail up later for future adventures in MoCo!

The second time was better planned out and Sidekick Pauli was in tow! We headed down the Canyon Trail, crossed over to Blockhouse Point Trail, then out to Blockhouse Point. This was before Sidekick Pauli’s surgery and she was delighted to pull me along the trail smelling all things new and exciting. I was expecting a little more of an overlook, but the views of the river were tremendously satisfying! Pauli was a little antsy, so I let her lead us back to the car instead of heading out to the second overlook on the Paw Paw trail. It looked a bit cloudy and felt like a storm was moving in. Sure enough as soon as we got to the car, the skies opened up! Thank you, Sidekick Pauli, for keeping me dry!!!

The third visit I practically ran down the trails. I wanted to scout out the Paw Paw overlook. I am so glad I did. It is definitely the nicer overlook. Expansive views of the river to the northwest. Very understandable why this point was used in the Civil War. Another neat feature is the C&O Canal is just below the bluffs, so you can “spy” bicyclists, walkers, and horse riders all day if you like while you sit high above on the rocks. haha!

I do need to advise that the Turkey Fan Trail has been rerouted. This caused me a little confusion the first time out there… not hard to figure out…just weird trying to put together where exactly you are on the Blockhouse Point Trail if you have never been to the area. So a heads up!

Also, I’ve heard there is a way to do a big loop by following an unmarked trail behind Calithea Horse Farm, then pick up the C&O Canal. Walking south on the canal to Pennyfield Lock, then up the Muddy Branch Greenway Trail. Hmmm…more trails to explore!

There is no better indication that summer is still here than a sailboat on the bay!

It took two hours, half a tank of gas, $8 in bridge tolls, and a $3 entrance fee to get to Elk Neck from Frederick, Maryland…but the views of the Bay…yes, definitely priceless!!

Elk Neck is located on a peninsula at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. The place where the Susquehanna, North East, Elk, and Bohemia Rivers spill into the Bay. At the southern most part of the park, Turkey Point Lighthouse sits atop the bluffs affording an expansive view of the Bay.

Sidekick Pauli and I started our hike on the White Banks Trail at North East Beach. Dogs are allowed on all the trails and beaches, except for the swimming area. The trail description describes this as a “challenging” trail, but that must be by eastern Maryland standards. 😉

Within 15 minutes, we came to a “T” in the trail. The official trail goes left, but shamelessly, I went right…and oh my!! The beach, a secluded, empty, windy beach! Yippee!

Sidekick Pauli’s first view of the Bay

Driftwood is very, very cool

Sidekick Pauli approached the water with great trepidation. When a wave would roll, then crash, onto the beach, she would jump back startled. These were tiny waves! Oh well, mountains and lakes are more her style. 🙂 🙂

The waves are chasing me!! Maybe I can climb that cliff…

There was a great piece of driftwood for us to sit on and eat our lunch. Total relaxation overtook me sitting there on the sunny beach watching sailboats drift by in the Bay. Then Sidekick Pauli, having had quite enough of the sand, and the waves, and the wind, whined and pawed me leaving wet sand all over! Time to keep hiking!

Okay, okay…we’re going!

After the stop at the beach we climbed the steepest hill of the entire hike. I remember it, not for its steepness, but for the woman who we passed as we were going up…a cigarette and whiskey voice with a starlet physique…memorable. 😉

Next stop was White Bank overlook…pretty cool. Watch your step! It’s a long way down!

White Banks…and a rather abrupt drop off!

Continuing around the park, we took a side trail over to meet up with the Pond Loop. Acorns and pawpaws were my only obstacles…and I slid twice! Darn acorns!

The pond was more to Sidekick Pauli’s liking, so we took our time around the perimeter. I love those big, plumed grasses that grow on the eastern shore of Maryland. The pond’s shore was thick with this grass.

Once we were around the pond, we caught the Farm Trail back to the parking lot.

It’s not a flower, Pauli.

However, we were not done for the day! The one unfortunate aspect of this park is that it is split into two pieces, with a prestigious bay community inbetween. 😦 Lucky for the residents, not for park visitors! So if you want to visit the lighthouse…which of course you do…you will need to drive down to the lighthouse trail. Which we did! Then NO PARKING was available, but the park ranger made a space for me! 🙂 🙂